Christian Leadership Foundations 6 - TeamSample

UNDERSTANDING TEAM

Leadership Devotion

As a preacher, I know an illustration sometimes conveys a biblical truth much better than my attempt at explanation. I can tell listeners that God loves them when they are failing and broken, but when I tell a story about loving my son more deeply after he smashed up our car, the truth hits home.

In this passage, Paul explains how an effective team functions by illustrating the parts of our body. Your body is a great picture of a team. Paul makes two very important points.

First, a real team is diverse. The thought of the body as one big eye is amusing and ludicrous. Our eyes are really important, and such a body would see very well. It just wouldn't be able to do anything else. It certainly wouldn't hear anything (12:17), and one big ear wouldn't smell a thing (12:17).

Yet that's how we sometimes think of a team (or the church) – it's all about the visionary leader, the powerful communicator, or the superb organizer. How stupid. We certainly need these people, but they're not going to achieve much alone. No more than a body that was all eye would. The body only works well when every single member plays its part.

So everyone in a team is important, even essential. Paul says God has assigned us to fit into a team and make our contribution (12:18) using our strengths and gifts. This is what God wants. So don't overemphasize or underemphasize the contribution of each team member. We need that diversity. Remember how ridiculous one big eye would be.

Second, a real team values every member. Even when we believe everyone can contribute, it's easy to think some team members are less important. Again, Paul's illustration of the body helps us here. The contribution of some organs is obvious, and we value and appreciate these organs. Others are hidden away and are less valued until something goes wrong. I have a friend in the hospital with pancreatitis at the moment. I'm not sure what the pancreas does, but I know he is very ill. A healthy pancreas is obviously crucial. The fact is, we need every single organ. We need to look after them all, especially those we don't tend to notice (12:22-24).

It's the same in a team - those who are less prominent need special attention. They need to know they are valued and cared for. They need to feel that team members are concerned about them when they struggle and celebrate with them when they are successful (12:26). A real team values every member, which maintains the team's unity.

To Contemplate

What is your team doing to make everyone feel valued and celebrated?

Leadership Reflection

Let me outline the differences between a ministry group and a real team to ensure we are all on the same page.

A ministry group has a leader to whom each group member reports. This leader is responsible for the direction and functioning of the group. The group members communicate together to coordinate their effective operation, but primarily they work independently on the tasks and goals assigned to them by the leader. They may even find themselves competing for limited resources (e.g., personnel, space, profile, finances) with other group members. Effective delegation and accountability through the leader are keys to the healthy operation of a working group.

A real team also has a leader, but the leader's main role is to facilitate the healthy communication and functioning of the team as it pursues its specific purpose/vision together. The values and faith visions are owned by every team member and rely on the whole team for their achievement. Team members are therefore accountable to each other for results and need to work interdependently for the vision to be achieved. Although there is still an ultimate leader, leadership of the team can be shared depending on the nature of the task and the skills of the team members.

I have been involved in teams that are mainly ministry groups, and I have been involved in real teams. There is a place for both, but let me outline the moment in my life when I became convinced that wherever possible, I was called to lead a real team rather than a ministry group.

For as long as I can remember, I have worked with others. As my influence grew, I mainly took responsibility for ministries and encouraged others to work with me toward my vision for the ministry. I'm pretty strong with relationships, and I had some good leadership foundations in place, so I don't think followers felt they were being used. It was clear I was the leader (and, therefore, had the authority), and I was the one who took the major responsibility and credit.

In 1979, when I accepted God's call to Kenmore (now Riverlife) Baptist Church as a youth pastor, I enlisted several other leaders (mostly young adults) to help. We formed an effective "working group." I did a lot of communicating, organizing, and delegating, and the other youth council members pulled their weight well. God worked in his grace through our ministry, and many young people became Christians and grew spiritually. It was an exciting time.

We used to take about 150 young people away for an annual camp. We camped in 15 or so large tents with separate tents for guys and girls. I organized and led the camp but had a lot of help from other adults and young adults to set up and operate "tent city" and assist the young people over the weekend.

One night I was on patrol at about 1:00 AM, ensuring everyone was behaving while the other leaders slept. As I was prowling around the tents, I had a feeling there was a girl in one of the guys' tents. It happened to be the tent where many of the new Christians (some ex-drug addicts) were sleeping with their panel vans (cars you could sleep in), all backed up to the tent's flaps.

I found myself in a quandary. If I burst into the tent looking for a girl and there was none, I would show these guys that I didn't trust them and would lose credibility with them. If, on the other hand, I ignored my suspicions and there really was a girl in the tent, I would be shirking my responsibilities and would be allowing a dangerous precedent. So I walked up and down a moonlit dirt track by myself for an hour, praying and agonizing over what I should do.

I never did go into the tent, but I made a life-changing decision as I paced the path in the middle of that historic night. I vowed I would never do this by myself again. From this point on, I would always share the responsibility with others and work with them as a team, not just as a leader with followers. I didn't want to have to make these calls alone anymore. I needed to be part of a ministry team in which everyone was committed and shared the vision and responsibility - and the late-night patrols.

I returned from camp with a new way of thinking, and we established a leadership support team. This was a team of adults (many of them parents) and young adults who took responsibility together for the youth work. We prayed for the young people weekly. We sought God's faith visions and strategized the ministry together. We shared the leadership of our 20 youth small groups. We all took responsibility for the 1:00 AM camp patrols. We did it together. We would eventually camp out with 250 young people and 20 or so support team members.

The ministry of the support team was so effective that when God called me to leave Kenmore, the very large youth ministry continued without a hitch with no youth pastor under the leadership of the support team. No momentum was lost at all. This is the power of team.

Since that significant night, I have always aimed to work in real team. Not just providing vision and direction for followers around me as a "heroic" leader would, but sharing the vision, authority, and responsibility with a team so that we are truly on mission together, genuinely caring for each other and praying together. All are contributing with our gifts to the shared vision. This is how God works and how he calls us to work as much as possible.